| His parents | Married 1/09/1848 | Her parents |
3GGF Michael Rice Bartlett |  IL --> IA | 3GGM Elizabeth Hulick-Bartlett |
| Ancestor 46 (101110) 6/07/1825 - 2/29/1876 | Ancestor 47 (101111) 12/22/1822 - 5/22/1891 |
Michael Rice Bartlett married Elizabeth Hulick on January 9, 1848 in Fulton County, IL. They briefly took up residence in Galena, Jo Daviess County, IL. Their first four children were born in Galena: Henry (c. 1848), Matilda, Lillian (Duncan), and Ruth (Allen). They moved to Iowa in 1851 or ’52, where they had Michael, Mary (Gillette), Abbie (Wiltse)*, and Edward (1861). Their first Iowa home was in Waterloo, on land that is now state college property. Other various records or family trees spot them in Chickasaw and / or Mitchell Counties before the Civil War. (See Iowa state and county maps).
On 10/12/1864, Michael enlisted as a private in Company H, 7th Iowa Cavalry at Cedar Falls, IA. He was discharged from Fort Leavenworth, KS on 6/27/1865. This made him a union soldier during the last six months of the civil war. I do not have any further details of his service at this time.
After the war, “the family came to Kossuth County settling in Portland Twp. near Buffalo Creek” according to an unsourced note that I obtained from Wayne Meyer (Michael and Elizabeth’s great-grandson).
Various census reports list Michael as a farmer or cooper. Apparently, he and his sons had to roam the state looking for work. Wayne’s note described one of Michael’s first jobs in Iowa as “hauling salt from McGregor [Clayton County] to Waterloo with an ox team.” The family had to relocate to Kansas for a few years as their Iowa land went through famine. Michael wrote letters home shortly before his death indicating that he was a menial laborer at the whim of demand and weather, and was worried about mortgages and losing his property.
In progress. (Need to insert copy of letter home, FindAGrave link, map of grave, 2nd portrait of Elizabeth, obituaries, picture of me at grave, etc.)